Regret
by KyoKyo866
Summary: Based from Axis Powers Hetalia Episode 23.5. In the morning after that horrible night, Italy's body had been swept out to sea, leaving his spirit in limbo. Wanting to find his friends, he asks for Rome's help to find his friends again. That is, if they are willing to talk to the ghost of the friend they murdered.
1. Chapter 1

_I feel like I'm… floating…_

Italy opened his eyes slowly, heavy sleep still tugging at the lids as he struggled to keep them open. He slowly blinked, furrowing his brows lightly at seeing only blue around him, the top surface filtering distorted sunlight through.

_I'm… under water?_

He lightly pushed his arms upwards and kicked his feet downwards, he pushed himself to the surface of the water. Though he noticed once his head reached air, he wasn't even holding his breath. It was as if he didn't need to breathe at all…

He disregarded this thought and began to swim forward, knowing he had to get to land soon. Was he out playing in the ocean and he was just carried away? He would have remembered that happening, wouldn't he? But then again, he couldn't remember a lot of things at that moment, just that he and his friends were stuck on that deserted island. He remembered falling asleep next to the fire… then what happened?

The curl on his head curled inward lightly as he spotted land some meters away, this making him swim quicker towards it. It didn't take long until his bare feet met with a sandy slope under the water, becoming more and more shallow until he was even able to stand on his own two feet. He kicked out his feet above the water, trying to shake it off before taking off his partially buttoned black shirt to ring out the water, doing the same with his boxers.

"Whew! That was close!" Italy exclaimed, almost as a greeting to show that he was back. As he put his shirt back on, he looked around, seeing that this was the same beach he had been on for months but.. none of his friends were around, nor was there any sign that they had even been there at all. The fire pit, the SOS and even the pile of widdled white flags were gone. Was it possible that they were rescued while he was away?!

"…Germany? Japan?" He called out, going over to where their base camp used to be near the ocean, looking for any sign of movement. But there was nothing there, just untouched sand. At seeing all of this, he was starting to hyperventilate, afraid that the worst had happened. Maybe... maybe this wasn't the right spot! He was just on a different section of the island that only looked exactly like where their base camp was! Yea! That was it!

He took off running at first to the west, wanting to find his friends as soon as possible, but as he went on, he slowly slowed to a walking pace, not feeling so good. Maybe it's because I haven't eaten in so long, he thought to himself, trying to save his strength as he walked the coast line.

It wasn't clear how long he really had ended up walking, it could have been several hours, it could have been only one, but it was hard to tell with the sun just staying in place. Italy smacked his lips uncomfortable, his throat feeling dry from dehydration. Oh, what he wouldn't give for just the smallest bit of water, or even Germany's beer if it meant quenching his painful thirst.

Just as he thought so, he stopped, hearing something… very odd. Laughter.

Italy practically double-taked as he swore he heard it again. It didn't sound like Germany or Japan, was he hallucinating things from the lack of water? That had to be it… there was no one else here… was there?

Keeping to near the edge of the forest near the sand cut off, he sneaked behind tree to tree to get closer to the laughter. The closer he got to it, the more it actually sounded familiar to him. As if it was from someone he hadn't seen in a long time but, who on earth would be there that he knew?

"Aaah~ You ladies are so good to me~ I sure am the luckiest man alive~ Ahaha!"

.._Che cosa_? Italy thought, skipping to one more tree before he finally found the culprit of the noise. It was a brunette man sitting in a long chair on the beach, two pretty ladies sitting next to him fanning and feeding him grapes. Though really all he could see was the top of his head. But still he was just so familiar, why couldn't he put his finger on it?

He had no choice, he had to ask and pray that it wasn't some sort of enemy.

"Ah… Ciao?" Italy called out, still hiding partway behind his protective tree just in case something went wrong.

The brunette perked at the sudden voice, the two ladies looking over their shoulder to the Italian and both giving a soft smile as if unnerved by his presence. The man sat up and turned around as well, lowering his shades to see the boy hidden in the shadows. Though once he saw him, he grinned and hopped out of his seat.

"My boy! Ciao, ciao!"

Italy's eyes widened at the reveal, his frightened frown splitting into an excited smile. "G-Grandpa! Grandpa Rome!"

"Aah, come give grandpa a hug!" Rome exclaimed happily, spreading his arms out for the other. However, when Italy came out from behind it, his smile dropped completely and his eyes went round in horror.

Italy didn't notice the sudden change in his face, more concentrated in running forward and putting his arms around his long lost grandfather. He could actually feel him! This wasn't a dream! "Grandpa! Grandpa! Vee! I missed you so much, grandpa!" he exclaimed, soon after excited Italian babble following after which soon just turned to gibberish in a mixture of nuzzling his head against the man's scarred chest.

Rome faltered for a moment, blinking a few times to get back to his senses before hugging his grandson back tightly. He knew it was too good to be true that his grandson could finally see him just so suddenly. "I missed you too." He said, almost in a solemn tone as he rested his chin on top of the Italian's head.

Italy's excited demeanor began to fade as he was finally registering the sad tone his grandpa was giving towards him. This wasn't right.. something was wrong… "..Grandpa?" he asked hesitantly, looking up to him. "Is.. everything okay?"

With a small sigh, the older man pulled away, setting his hands on the boy's damp shoulders. "My sweet... sweet grandson… what has happened to you?"

"What… are you talking about?" Italy asked, a tentative smile coming to his face. He felt absolutely fine, he wasn't sure what he was mentioning... the fact that they were talking to each other maybe? "Nothing's happened, everything's fine!~"

"Italy…"

"S…Si?"

"Look down."

Italy's eyebrows perked at the request, now wondering if there was something on his shirt. But following the others direction, he looked down. At seeing it, he opened his mouth to scream, but he couldn't will any sound to come out.

From his collar bone to his bellybutton, there was a large incision down his torso along with two horizontal cuts so to show the inside of his body. And inside there was nothing, nothing but his bones, heart and lungs.

The sight of his own disfigured body became blurred as hot tears gathered in Italy's eyes, beginning to shake furiously as terror swept over him.

"Italy? Italy!? Stay with me, boy!"

Italy could feel his grandfather's large warm hands grabbing his forearms to keep him up, knowing that his legs were giving out under him as shock was still ravaging his system. But he just couldn't look away.

But it was then he remembered.

He remembered _everything_ that his best friends did to him.


	2. Chapter 2

_Wh-what are you guys doing?!_

_Italy, please, you have to understand!_

_It hurts! It hurts! Stop!_

_It's for the best!_

_I'm scared! Please! Please, stop!_

Germany winced, his legs kicking out instinctually from being jerked out of his nightmare. He shivered lightly from the morning air, a horrid acidic taste of flesh festering in his mouth from the night before.

"Germany-san... Germany-san, wake up."

"Eurrgh.." Germany grunted, coiling in to himself in wanting to just block out his ally. At the moment, he wanted nothing to do with him. He wanted to just be alone. After what they did… he didn't deserve to be talked to, to have any attention, to—

"Germany-san! Please, wake up!"

Reluctantly, he pried open his eyes, flinching at the bright light entering his eyes before looking up to his distressed ally. "What is it…?" he asked in a groggy voice, still trying to wake up.

Japan bit his lip, seeming at a loss of words now that he had his attention. He looked back over his shoulder for a moment before back at Germany, his mouth hanging ajar in wanting to speak.

"Spit it out!"

"H-He… Italy, he's.." Japan tried saying, looking even more panicked as he tried to put the words together in his head.

Germany stared at him for a moment before he looked down, his brows furrowing. That's right, Japan was practically an old man, he must have a hard time maintaining his memories. "…Yes, yes I know, Italy is dead. If you can remember, you and I killed him last night. We… drowned and.. ate him like animals." He admitted, gripping his hands into tight fists at even having to think back on that awful, awful night. "but.. it'll be all right. As long as we give him enough space and access to air and water, he'll regenerate back to normal in a day or so."

"But that is the thing! Italy-san is _gone_!"

Germany's head shot straight up at this, looking to the even more distressed man with wide eyes. "…what do you mean he's gone?"

The raven haired man pushed himself to his feet and went over to a small indent in the damp sand, specks of red barely visible on it. "He was right here last night! Now his body is gone!"

"But that's impossible!" Germany scrambled to his feet and ran over to the spot in question, looking over it in pure confusion and horror that their friend's corpse was missing. "I was there when he passed, there was no way he would be coming back to life so soon!"

The two searched the spot vigorously, looking for any footsteps or any sign of movement from the body at all. But nothing turned up at all. "This is impossible." Japan reiterated for the German, rubbing his lightly red tinted arms in confusion. "If there were any footsteps, it was probably washed out by the tide-"

At the same time, both men looked to each other at the sudden realization.

Since they put him near the water, the oceans tide had washed the corpse out to sea.

"No….. _noo_…. NOOOO!" Germany screamed, turning around almost fast enough to trip over his own feet before running into the oceans tides. Japan was quick on his heels, reaching out and grabbing him as he ended up waist deep in the waves.

"Germany-san! Calm down!"

"ITALIEN! ITALIEN!" Germany screamed, trying to yank himself out of Japan's grip to get into the ocean, determined to search though its entirety to find the corpse of his best friend. Course when he tried to yank enough times, all of a sudden he found his head shoved under the surface of the water. A few air bubbles escaped out of surprise before he was brought back up by a fistful of hair.

Once he regained his eyesight, he realized he was staring into the dark abyss of Japan's eyes, the light of tears in them shining like sky against the vast amount of darkness. "Germany-san.. we are in no position to save him. We would only be making it worse by endangering our own lives."

"B-but…" The blonde stammered, finding it harder to speak with all of this stress and panic whirling around in his head, "he won't come back to life… he'll be dead for who knows how long! We can't let him just let his body rot in there!"

"You must calm down. He won't rot away; he will stay the same down there." Japan said, trying to stabilize his voice to be smooth and calm so he could set the example between them. "When we are home, we will send out a search team to find his body. But for now, we must focus on _our_ survival. Right now we only have enough strength to stave off the Allies just barely if they were to attack us. We—"

"Let them attack us!" Germany suddenly barked, seemingly unaware of his chin trembling so harshly. "We… _I_ killed my best friend! My ally! I don't deserve to keep being out here! Let them capture me! Let them torture me! Let them kill me! _I_ should have been eaten! I… I-I…" he trailed off from there, finally giving up and letting out a sob, slowly crumbling into the water below them.

Japan jumped lightly as the other had begun to cry, however suppressed it may be. Even when they were doing the procedure, not once has he acted out like this. He may have shed one or two tears but that was it. This must be extremely hard for him. "Ssh, ssh." He hushed lightly, taking the larger man by his side and leading him back onto land, letting them both sit down by the fire pit. "It will be all right, Germany-san. We have to prevail, for him."

At that point, the other couldn't even make a dignified response, just being left there t shake from the unbelievable amount of stress and guilt weighted on his shoulders along with him trying to keep back any sobbing he wanted to do.

It was all his fault… it was all his fault… it was—

"AH HA HA HA HA~"


	3. Chapter 3

The two flinched at the sudden loud noise, only Japan bothering to look over his shoulder to see what it was.

Just like several times before, America stood atop the large cliff near their base camp, looking over the both of them as he was ready to set out an attack. Japan slowly pulled himself away from Germany and pushed himself to his feet, drawing out his blood stained sword without a word.

"At last, the hero is here!" America proclaimed proudly, setting his hands on his hips in triumph of just being there before he threw out a hand. "China! I choose you!"

And also just like the several times before, China rushed out from behind the foliage behind him and sprung from the cliff to attack the Axis. Though once he touched down and swung his wok back to attack, he stopped. This… looked much different from the other times they had attacked. The main thing that caught his attention was Japans sword. It was bloody and put in a position of defense, not attack like usual.

"…Japan?" He hesitantly asked, glancing to the side to even see the usually manly Germany quivering in a pathetic heap next to his little brother.

"Leave us. You will run away as always. Save yourself the trouble." Japan said to him, almost as a threat as he side stepped in front of Germany, knowing that the other was looking at him.

China looked between the two, raising his wok up to attack again but, this just didn't feel right. "…Where is that Italy boy?"

"_Italien ist __**tot**_." Germany finally said aloud, keeping back yet another gut wrenching sob.

The older nation rose an eyebrow, not really sure what those words really meant, so he looked up to Japan for answers. Japan gave a glance downwards before back to his brother, knowing that since Germany tried to tell him, he might as well say it. "Italy is dead. Leave."

"…Dead?" He blinked, not really sure if this was a trap or not. It must be, there was no way a nation could die. Well, a nation that wasn't on the brink of collapse like the Roman Empire.

"China! What the heck are you doing down there?! The plan was to attack!"

Japan's attention moved up to America at the exclaim, seeing some of the Allies come out of their hiding spots from the jungle behind them. He gripped the hilt of his sword tighter, spreading his feet at a defensive fighting stance. They were clearly outnumbered and Germany was not in the best mental condition to fight. It was up to him.

China watched him carefully, seeing the serious determined look in his eye as he looked to the enemies a few meters away from them. If they attacked him now, there was a good chance he would stab for a vital area; this was completely different than usual. He pivoted on his heel, looking back up to them, "Everyone, stop! Don't attack them!"

America blinked at this, pursing his lips in an annoyed fashion down at the smaller Asian. "Are you defecting on us?!"

"No, I'm trying to save you! Japan is acting different, I don't think now is the best time!" China called out to the cliff, looking over his shoulder to the stoic island nation. He had seen him only in this atmosphere once before, when he had rebelled and left his house. One attempt to attack and he would slice his opponent down, no matter who it was. He still had the scar on his back to prove it.

"Mm, what do you think, comrades?" Russia said, smiling as he looked to the other blonde nations near him. This was a most strange situation, especially since one of their allies as tried to defend the Axis before.

France tapped his stubble chin curiously, looking over the situation carefully. "Mm... where is Italy?" he asked, noticing one of the three were missing.

"It's probably a trap!" America exclaimed with fervor, almost excited at the possibility there was a surprise attack involved with this. It would make things interesting.

"But to send Italy to do it? That would be stupid." England scoffed at even the idea of it. But it was a little unnerving this time with just the two, especially since it didn't look like the other had just run away to hide. Even when they did attack, Italy always kept by his allies in want of protection, not leave them behind.

America looked to all of his allies, sighing in almost frustration of the show not getting on the road like he had so brilliantly planned. "Yo!" he called out down there once more, not seeming too unnerved at getting Japans serious gaze set on him. "Where's that Italy dude?"

"He—"

"_Italy is __**dead**_."

Japan jumped lightly as Germany suddenly stood up behind him, even surprising him. Germany stepped forward so he was standing next to his ally, not even caring at this point that he was looking the enemies straight in the face with red eyes and cheeks damp with tears like some weak child. "He is dead! We killed him!" He lashed out to his side and took Japans sword by the blade, careful of the sharp edge being away from his hand. "With this sword! This is _his_ blood!"

At that, he dropped the blade, it falling with a silent thud against the sand below then as he grabbed Japans wrists and thrusted them up so everyone could see. "Both of our hands are stained with his blood! They will not wash away until he comes back to life! And he can't! He's dead! _DEAD_."

"…Germany-san." Japan almost cooed to the larger nation, the other still quivering and now just reduced to silence. Carefully, he slipped his hands out of his grip and set a hand on his back, gently rubbing it in an attempt to comfort him.

Meanwhile, the four on the cliff looked to each other in almost confusion. They had never seen the Germany outburst like that before, sure they've seen him scream and yell out of anger, but _never_ in tears. And that the two of them had killed Italy? What for?

"..Why did you kill him?" France suddenly asked, wringing his gloved hands together in fear they were actually telling the truth and not just delusional on sea water.

Japan looked over Germany for a moment, knowing he was once again not in the right mind to speak to them anymore. With a soft sigh, he looked up to everyone, projecting his voice so all could hear. "We did it because of you. We knew you would be back to attack us. We had no more food; we had no more strength left. We did not want to be weak or to die of starvation and be vulnerable to you. So we… we drowned Italy.. sliced him up and ate his organs." All flinched at the monotone telling of the grizzly story, still unsure to even believe it or not. But how the two were acting it was starting to become more believable.

"Why on Earth would you choose Italy?" England asked, almost curious of the small details of all of this.

"He was the weakest. He did the most little work and he fought the least." Japan explained, knowing just the day before he said the exact same thing to Germany to get him on board with the plan.

"I don't believe you!" France suddenly exclaimed, now tugging at his previously unwrinkled uniform. There was no way Italy's only friends would turn on him like that. "If he is dead, show us proof!"

"You want _proof_!?" Germany practically screeched, yanking himself away from Japans side back to the fire pit. Japan opened his mouth to stop him, but he knew they had nothing left to lose anymore. "Here is you _gottverdamm_ proof!" the blonde exclaimed before shoving upwards one of the sticks they had used for last night, a half eaten still attached firmly on it.

At seeing this, all Allies stepped back in shock, especially China since he was right there to see and smell it. He covered his nose with his long sleeve, able to detect the scent of rotting body coming from it. It was almost too much to even bear.

"What the hell is wrong with you guys?!" America exclaimed, looking away to not look at the piece of Italy's innards. "God damn!"

Russia leaned forward, trying to get a good view of it from where he was standing. "Well what do you know, there looks like there is some bite marks in it. They are telling the truth."

"M…M-Mon Dieu.." France stammered, paling at even the though such a horrific thing being done to his own little brother.

During all of this, England only watched silently, not taken back too much by the organ as he still studied the situation around them. "Where is he now, then? He is a nation; he cannot just simply die for good."

"The tide washed his corpse away last night. He is lost at sea at the moment." Japan replied coolly, setting a hand back on Germany's back as the other just stared intently at the organ on a stick in his trembling hands. "He cannot come back to life until we find him."

England nodded at this, everyone looking to each other at this new information. This could certainly be an advantage over them, they were weak and distraught. But at the same time…

Without warning, France leapt off from his spot on the cliff and ran over to the two Axis, a look of panic being obvious on his face. "You have to find him! Y-You just have to!"

"We can't do anything about it, remember?" Japan said, almost coldly to him before looking back to the German, who at this point wasn't even paying attention to anyone else. "We are stuck here, no rations, no rescue, no anything."

France moved his hands back and forth as if trying to say something, but still didn't seem to know what he would say to them. He turned back to look at everyone up at the cliff. "_Please_! Let's just give up this time and take them back home! We need to find him!"

"Settle down, frog. We are _not_ helping the enemy. He may be your brother but that does not mean-"

"Let's do it."

Both England and America whipped around to Russia, eyes widened at such a command from the larger one. "What?!"

Russia looked up to the two of them, lips pursed innocently as he just put his hands together. "Let's take them home. It is not like they can do anything in this condition. They are weak, distraught, and obviously driven to the point of cannibalism. Once this is all over, I'm sure helping them like this could benefit us. Nothing better than blackmail or a guilt trip to help us win the battle, if not the war."

England furrowed his thick brows at this, but once he looked back at the two, he sighed. He didn't want to, but the plan made sense. "Fine. Come on, let's head to the docks." He stated, turning back and going into the jungle, Russia following after him. Course once America stamped his foot a few times out of a tantrum of his awesome plan not working, he followed too.

China and France soon headed to the slope that went up the cliff, pausing to make sure the other two followed. Japan and Germany stayed still for a while, seeming to try to comprehend they were actually going home. While Japan went around and picked up both of their things scattered around, Germany just stared at the ocean silently before slowly following Japan as they let the Allie's lead the way to their rescue.

_I will find you… I will make all of this up to you… I'm sorry…_


	4. Chapter 4

Italy stirred in the darkness, feeling the rays of the sun press against his skin lightly and wanting to seep under his eyelids. He wasn't sure where he even was anymore, he didn't feel sand beneath him but he still smelt the coastline.

His brows twitched into a small furrow, feeling a soft constant breeze brushing his face. What was it now? Reluctantly, he made his eyes open to see what was exactly going on, blinking at seeing one of the pretty ladies from before sitting next to him and softly fanning him with a large elegant feather fan. "…Mm?" he hummed in confusion, looking down to notice that he was sitting on his grandfather's reclining lawn chair, and also that he was wearing a white shirt now to cover over his incision.

"Ah, there ya are! I was worried that you weren't gonna wake up!"

Italy jumped at the baritone voice, looking over to see his beloved grandpa in another reclining lawn chair, but he didn't have a shirt. Confused at first, he soon connected two and two together of what happened. Seeing his injury made him black out, and Rome set him here and put his shirt on him so he didn't have to see it.

"Ahahaha, it's a joke you see, what's the worst that can happen while you're here?" Rome mused, lowering his shades to look at his grandson as he noticed he wasn't laughing. He frowned though, just seeing Italy look down to his feet sadly. "…Italy." He muttered, turning in his chair to face him clearly. "What's on your mind?"

The chestnut haired lad was quiet for a bit, just watching his toes wiggle unenthusiastically for a while before he took a deep breath. "Grandpa… where am I?"

"You're in limbo. Well, a more paradise type of limbo." Rome explained, sitting up and setting his feet on the ground on the side of the chair. "We aren't human, so we do not go up or down, we just… well kinda go up a bit or down a bit. Luckily for us, we went up a level! So ladies all around!" In his exclaim of happiness, two more beautifully clad women were now sitting beside their chairs, one carrying a tray of a delicious punch-like drink and the other holding more fruit.

Italy blinked at seeing more women being around them, that really making him believe that this was some sort of paradise. "But, why am I here, grandpa? I mean, yes I technically died but… my body wasn't destroyed! I was.. I was in Germanys hands. Germany would never let me go into any harm, especially after death." He trailed off there, looking back to his toes.

Rome hummed in thought, scratching his light beard for a moment before snapping his fingers. "When you woke up to this place, where were you?"

"I was... in the ocean, not sure where but it was a good length in." Italy said, looking back to the direction where his base camp was. He was quiet for a moment but it suddenly clicked. "I'm in the ocean?! H-how did I get there!?"

Rome shrugged, not exactly sure how he did. "Maybe the tide swept you up… but, Italy. What _did_ happen to you? A wound like the one you have isn't exactly something that would happen in a freak accident.

Italy hesitated at this, biting his lip lightly as he thought about it. "..When I tell you.. don't be mad, okay?"

"Ha! I'll never be mad at you—"

"I didn't say don't be mad at me." Italy interrupted, this making the other tilt his head curiously. "Don't.. be mad at Germany, or Japan either! Okay?"

At hearing this, Rome's friendly smile decreased quite a bit, knowing from this that those other two must had done something to him. "All right, I give you my word. Now, what did they do to you?"

Even the ladies had lowered their items to listen to the sad tale of Italy, some moving a bit to get a better look at him.

"W-well… we ran out of food… and since I am the weakest a-and they needed their strength to fight off the bad guys... they... they drowned me... and then ate my organs."

"_What_!?"

"Grandpa! Grandpa I said don't be mad!" Italy exclaimed, leaning back as his grandfather stood up to his full height. "Per favore, sit down!"

The older empire stared down at his grandson for a moment before sitting himself back down, his face currently torn between upset and furious. "How do you know that? That they did it because of it being survival of the fittest?"

"B..because they told me, Grandpa." Italy explained, running his own forearm as he now looked away, the look on the others face beginning to really scare him. "I came back to life while they were cutting me open, and they told me everything... of why they did it and and..." Once again he trailed off, raising a hand to set on his stomach, but he pulled away, knowing that there was nothing there. "..I-I told them it was okay… I-I mean... I'm useless, what could I do? I'd rather it be me then them."

Rome stared at him for a few more moments before he sighed, leaning forward and wrapping his small grandson into a hug. "You truly are an angel, Italy. To suffer all through that, and yet…" he paused, pulling back to look at him, "...you're going to be all right in the head... right?"

"I... don't know." Italy said, pursing his lips at the thought of it before he yelped very lightly, suddenly feeling warmth surround him as the four ladies leaned forward and hugged the boy close, all of them cooing in sympathy and one even stroking his hair as if wanting to make him feel better.

Of course, with how some of the girls positioned themselves against him for the hug, Italy knew there was at least one set of breasts lightly pressing against his cheek. Not that he minded of course.

"Veee~ Don't worry, ladies! I-I'll be all right, I promise!" He exclaimed, the women squeezing him a bit tighter before pulling away, but not too far away, as they still kept close to stroke his hair and pet under his chin.

"Ahahaha! That's my boy!" Rome laughed, not even minding his servants were trying to love on his descendant. After all he went through; he certainly deserved his love and pampering. "Maybe it's a good thing you're here; this will calm you down before heading back to face them!"

"I guess… I have no choice about it." Italy said, his voice treading on the melancholy tone once more before he felt the blonde lady stroking his hair give him another hug, and another press of breasts against his cheek. He let out a goofy giggle about it, the older man slapping his knee in laughter as well. Adjusting himself a little, he looked up to the lady in general, "uhm.. would you have anything to drink? I'm really thirsty."

At his request, the lady pulled away and brought up the tray of punch she had earlier, Italy quickly taking both of them and drinking them down almost ravenously. Rome frowned at this, figuring that they must have been through hell to get to cannibalism; it was no wonder he was drinking so greedily. He blinked, noticing something happen as he drank, but he kept quiet.

"Would you like some more, Italy?" She asked with a coy smile, a raven haired lady next to her moving close with her plate of grapes. "Or you may have some of these too, you can have whatever you want~"

"Aah, grazie, bellas~ You are too kind to me, ehehe~"

Oh well, he would tell Italy about the red punch stain in the front of his shirt later.


	5. Chapter 5

His fingers twitched, faltering a few inches from the door knob. He stared at the door blankly, feeling as if this was almost unreal. He was finally home. He was home alone. At times he had wished that the Italian would leave him alone for some peace and quiet in his own home. Seems he didn't need to worry about that anymore.

With a silent heavy sigh, his gloved hand turned the door knob and went inside, prepared to just keep in his dark solitary confinement for a-

"WELCOME HOME, WEEEEEST!"

Germany jumped as party poppers and a party blower was heard, snapping him to reality and actually taking a look around. His living room was brightly lit, streamers of his national colors strewn about every corner and now confetti being sent through the air and to the ground. He looked to the side seeing his older brother, wearing some sort of tacky party hat along with his little bird perched on the lamp next to him (and he wasn't going to ask how he made a party hat for it).

Prussia gave a toothy grin, blowing the party blower once more before he ran over and gave his little brother a big hug.

"Damn, West! Have you gotten bigger since your trip?! You always do!"

"Bruder, please. I'm not in the mood for-"

"I admit, usually I'm not scared of random shit but I did get a little worried there when you didn't have any contact for a few months!"

"Prussia, can you just-"

"How's Italy and Japan doing? They get home okay? Oh, they probably did! I'm just happy you're home!"

"… Actually, about Italy-"

"That's why I made this big shindig! It's only the _least_ I could do for my poor little bro! Feel free to praise me over the wonderful job I did! I must say this could be one of the most awesomest parties ever! Behind my birthday parties of course!"

"Bruder!"

Prussia jumped lightly, the sudden loud tone of the other surprising him, "Ja?" Germany stared at him for a good moment or so, not saying a word. The other stared back and slowly began to withdraw, not liking the look he was giving at all. "What?"

"I just want to be alone for a while. Okay?" He said, his shoulders slumping in just exhaustion before turning without another word to go to his room.

"But… I had cake." Prussia said, taking a step out of concern of both his usually stronger brother's mood and that his awesome party was ignored. He looked down to his Gilbird, raising an eyebrow as if asking him 'what's his deal?' His chick peeped quietly, flying off of the lamp and landing on his shoulder. The albino lightly ruffled Gilbird's feathers, looking down the hallway for a while longer before deciding to go to the others room.

The door was left open, which was odd considering how much he loved privacy, and it was easily seen Germany was just laying face down in his bed. Prussia pursed his lips, cautiously knocking on the door as he came in, "…West? Are you okay?"

"I just came back from being stranded on an island for months. What do you think?"

"Whoa there, Mr. Sassy German Pants." Prussia said with a half nervous laugh, though it died seeing that it didn't get much of a response. With a quiet sigh, he went over to the bed and sat on the edge, taking off his party hat. He nervously fiddled with the edge of the hat, not exactly sure what to say at this point. What could he say?

"_Cheep_."

Germany grunted as he felt a light pair of bird feet landing on his shoulder, moving his head to look as he felt the bird starting to walk down his arm. As he watched it move, he began to look towards what it was walking towards. His gloved hand. His brows furrowed, knowing what was underneath that glove, knowing that right under the leather was the ugly red marks inked into his skin in result of his sin. He flexed his fingers, watching how the leather folded and bent in coordination of his movement.

Why didn't he think to wear gloves when they were doing it? Would it have still stained him? But at least he did not have it as bad as Japan, how was he going to hide that much blood etched into his arms?

"…Germany?"

"Mm?" The German's eyes trailed up away from his hand and the bird walking to it to the red worried gaze of Prussia, a little surprised he was called by name.

"Are you okay?"

That was the second time being asked that, but with brows furrowed, he gave a sigh and rolled his head back into his pillow. "No."

"What's wrong?" Prussia asked, turning more towards him at the definite answer of something troubling him. "Was it the party? Was it too much too soon? Ah, man, I'm sorry! I didn't-"

"No, it's… it's not that." Germany interrupted, closing his eyes as he just tried to breathe deeply through his nose. "I've just been through a lot lately."

Prussia bit his lower lip lightly, now really beginning to worry since not much could shake his strong little brother like this. He glanced to the side, seeing that Gilbird had successfully walked on top of Germany's hand, but he blinked seeing him hop up and down and lightly peck at the lip of the glove. Was there something he wanted to show him? At the moment however, he decided to ignore it, hesitantly reaching over and setting a hand on the others shoulder.

"What happened? Of course, you know, other than the obvious, being stuck on a deserted island. Was there something more to that? I've seen you be stranded places before and you turned out pretty well." He asked, hoping maybe to get some more information. However, he frowned, receiving no answer from him.

Maybe he should take a different route.

"What exactly are you feeling right now?" Prussia asked, hoping that asking about emotions would work, even though Germany wasn't much of an emotional talking guy. "Are you feeling disappointed? Hurt? Upset?"

"…. Regret."

"Regret?"

Germany nodded as confirmation, his legs subconsciously curling up to his body at the mention of the sensitive subject.

Prussia pursed his lips once again, trying to figure out what to make of that. He looked over to Gilbird again, seeing him jumping a little bit more like the glove was very important. Maybe, that could have something to do with it? Was he hiding something? Taking a cautionary glance down to Germany, he reached over and gently took the hand that his pet was one, who quickly jumped off.

"Why are you feeling regret?" He asked, glancing every few seconds over to see if the other would retaliate as he slowly began to slip off his glove.

"… because…"

Tug after little tug, Prussia's brows furrowed, seeing a distinct red staining the hand underneath the glove. Once it was all off, his eyes widened at seeing blood on his precious brothers hand. He turned to look at Germany, seeing that he turned his head enough from the pillow to have one bright glistening eye showing, a tear escaping and soaking into the pillow below him.

"… I murdered my best friend…."


	6. Chapter 6

"You… wait, hold on, haha," Prussia raised his hands up in almost a defensive manner, his brows furrowing in both confusion and worry. "You _murdered_- ffft, that, that word is just weird coming out of your mouth! Lying doesn't suit you!"

"Prussia…"

The albino chuckled louder for a moments before he took another look at the other's exposed eye. Just how he was looking at him, it had a sadness that he had never seen before, and it deeply troubled him.

"You're… not lying, are you?"

Germany shook his head, rolling his head so he could cover up his shameful face.

Prussia stared downwards, still trying to process the information. Germany, his baby brother, the one who was so virtuous and followed every rule known to man… _killed_ someone. Not just someone, his best friend. And that had to be only one person.

"…Why?" He finally managed to ask, his voice lightly cracking as it was still trying to sink in. If the blood was still on Germany, that meant Italy wasn't alive yet. How long had he been dead? Did they destroy the body?

A silence hung in the room at that point, a dreadful atmosphere being attached heavily to it. Neither brother moved, each waiting for the other to act first, to say something, to do something, but yet nothing. After a moment or so, however, Germany let out a large sigh into his pillow under him, followed by a muffled sniff. He pushed himself up into a sitting position, rubbing his ungloved hand in thought.

"I'll start from the beginning, when it first started…"

...

"Grr, this is ridiculous."

Germany leaned his head against the bark of the tree behind him, flinching lightly as the air in his empty stomach circulated painfully, causing him to grip it lightly. "We can't be out of food like this, are you sure those trees were bare?"

"Yes, I have checked many times. Either we or the birds had eaten them," Japan noted with a solemn nod, his arms wrapped around his hollow torso as well. "And have we run out of food from the ocean as well? Surely there must be fish out there."

"If there is, we have either eaten them or they wised up and got out of our section of the coast line." The German gave out a frustrated grunt as he shifted his position, resting his back more against the trunk of the palm tree. He looked up, he and the Japanese nation shaded by the leaves of their and the neighboring trees. It was nice to cool down in weather such as this, especially when such important matters were needing to be discussed.

The two closed their eyes, trying to at least relax despite the stabbing pain in their stomach. "What are we going to do, Germany-san?" Japan asked quietly, changing his sitting position as well to get a little more comfortable. "All we have left is trees and bushes, and I do not think it would turn out well if we tried to eat those."

"Hm," Germany hummed, just taking in a deep breath of the coast air as he just tried to clear his mind, "I agree, we can't eat that. As is our fighting strength is poor, at best. At this rate we are going to keep depleting our strength and energy until we're captured." At that, he didn't even need to reopen his eyes to know Japan was starring worriedly at him. There really seemed to be no way out.

"Ve!~ Germany! Germany, Japan! Look, look!"

Almost in sync, both lifted their heads to look over to the ocean, seeing the brightly smiling Italian waving at them from a knee deep distance of the water. At seeing him wave enthusiastically, both the somber nations raised a hand to unenthusiastically wave back at him. Once he seemed satisfied in gaining their attention, Italy just chuckled and jumped around in the water, dive-bombing to the side so he could start just dog paddling around.

Germany couldn't help but crack an amused grin at this. How Italy was still able to keep so cheerful despite all of this hardship was far beyond him, he often wondered if the pain of hunger even affected him at this rate. He stopped complaining about his stomach hurting sometime ago, even though they can still hear it growl hungrily. He surely was the strongest out of them.

"…Germany-san."

"Yes?" Germany asked aloud, rolling his head over in an almost lazy manner to look at Japan. His brows furrowed when he did, see Japan staring very intently looking at Italy move back and forth in the waves, as if deeply contemplating something. "What is it?"

"I think I know how to solve our issue"

He didn't like the sound of that….

"How so?"

"…. Let's eat Italy."

"WHAT?!"

"Ssh!"

Germany sat up more from his position, eyes widened at the smaller nation next to him. Did he just say what he thought he said!? "What?!" he repeated in a harsh whisper.

"Hear me out," Japan replied calming, seeming very sound with the idea, "there is nothing left for us, you said yourself that at this rate we will not be able to face against the enemy. I have heard stories of people eating one another in emergency situations such as this, it is possible."

The blonde stared down to him, his skin paling at even just the thought. "Have you gone mad?"

"No, just thinking how to save our lives."

"But we're nations, we can't die-"

At this, Germany suddenly stopped; his own words making something click in the back of his head. Nations can't die. _Nations can't die_.

"It will take a while, but he will be fine. He is usually useless in fights; he can at least help us this way."

Germany took a shaky breath, this idea actually starting to sound like it could work. "How would we do it?"

Japan's ears perked lightly, almost as if surprised that he was giving into the idea so quickly. "We could slit his throat; make his death come quickly so he will not suffer."

"No, let's not hurt him more than we're all ready going to do," Germany shook his head lightly at the idea, shuddering at just the thought of a blade going against the Italian's neck. This was their ally; they were not going to treat him like a domestic animal. "We need to be fast; it needs to be painless, and does not need any further damage on his body. That will make his body take longer to regenerate."

The Asian took a deep breath from his nose, closing his eyes for a moment to think, visualizing different scenarios they could attempt without him putting up a fight in the process. After all, no one would want to be dinner. "We drown him when he's asleep."

"Done."

Japan nodded, almost as an act of agreement before holding his stomach a little tighter, it churning painfully at just at the thought of what was to come. Germany looked down, thinking of what they just did, and after taking another even breath, he looked up to the dog paddling Italian, his vision blurring in and out from warm moisture that gathered there. He dared not show weakness.

There was no going back now.

...

"Wait wait."

Germany looked up over to Prussia, furrowing his brows at being interrupted, "what?"

"You all had to resort to ithat/i so easily?" Prussia asked, an eyebrow raised in almost skepticism, "The island was Seychelles, wasn't it? Why couldn't you find more food?"

"There was none," The blonde said, clenching and unclenching his hands, "I all ready told you. We could not get any more fish, or find any more fruit. Even if there was some farther out, we didn't have any strength to wander further and be possibly wounded in the process."

"I don't know, it sounds like Japan didn't really think it through." Prussia leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms as he seemed to not be liking how the events were turning out so far.

As he leaned back though, Germany leaned forward, his eyes piercing into the others skull in almost anger of bad mouthing their actions, even though he was completely right. "When you have no food for a week, no resources, and enemies soon to attack you, wouldn't you be desperate?"

Prussia raised his arms defensively, not wanting to face the wrath of a distraught West. "Oi oi, you made your point." He said, cracking a nervous smile before he quickly stood up, "all this talk of hunger is making me hungry, and there's a big freaking cake out there for you. I'm going to go grab us some of that and beer, it'll loosen you up!"

"What, you-" Germany started to say, but frowned as the other quickly fled the room. He quietly sighed, flopping onto his back on the bed, figuring he might as well get comfortable while waiting for him to come back so he could finish his story.

Though he was far from looking forward to tell him what happened next.


	7. Chapter 7

"Satisfied?"

Prussia grinned as he bumped the side of the door with his hip to close it behind him, "yes, sir!" he chirped. He lightly kicked at Germany's foot to get his attention, making the other sit up, "I got you some beer and cake too, it looks like you need it more than I do."

Germany blinked, not having expected that, "thank you," he thanked, taking the white piece of cake and setting the cold can of beer next to him. He picked up the fork on the plate and lightly picked at the homemade cake.

"So you were saying; you two were going to bump off Italy?"

The blonde cringed at the wording of the phrase, now setting down his cake as well. He nodded, "yes, we decided to wait until he went to sleep before we did anything."

...

"Good night, Germany! Good night, Japan!"

"Mm."

Italy frowned lightly, looking between the two silent nations quietly. He scooched closer to the fire, it being the only source of warmth at the moment. He reached both of his arms out, setting them on Japan's and Germany's knee, this making them look up from their gaze of the fire.

"Things will be better in the morning! It'll be a new day! Maybe a plane will see us this time!"

"Mm, yes. That is quite possible." Japan mused, giving a nod. On the corner of his eye, he watched Germany avert his gaze back to the fire, looking ashamed to even look at the smaller nation. He subtly looked back to Italy, seeing he frowned a bit more at seeing Germany look away.

"Ve… Well, good night." Italy finally settled on saying, laying down near the fire and comfortably being able to close his eyes.

The two waited, staring into the fire silently as they waited for a sign, anything to show he was asleep and not going to eavesdrop on them like he did once in a while. Japan glanced down to Italy, noticing his breath being at a normal pace. Not yet.

"… Germany-san."

"Huh? Yes?"

"You don't need to be pessimistic," Japan noted, gesturing with his hand to the Italian by their feet, "we'll find food and rescue soon."

Germany raised an eyebrow; not exactly understanding what he was saying at first, this was all his idea, was he backing out? After noticing the gesture, he looked down to Italy, noticing he didn't really seem asleep yet. He was eavesdropping again. "Er, yes. I'm sure that we'll find our way out of here soon, and find… find food…"

"Mhm, we could all go on a fruit hunt, like what we did when we first came here." Japan said, frowning at this as he began to watch Italy more. Even though his back was turned, he knew Italy had a big smile on his face.

"Yes, a fruit hunt… and we could build sand castles too... go swimming, and just en... enjoy ourselves." Germany took a deep breath from his nose, biting his lip at the fact that his voice cracked a bit. He didn't want to seem suspicious. "Like an Axis should do together."

Both of them lightly jumping at hearing a soft content sigh come out from the Italian, his breathing slowing down and body seeming to untense. He was finally asleep, with thoughts of him and his friends thriving and enjoying themselves swirling in his head.

The air became stagnant between the two of them for a while, only the sounds of the waves crashing against the shore and the small crackling of the fire being heard. They stared into the fire with dull eyes, not even sure who would be the first one to act. Soon enough, they both pulled up their gaze, blue meeting brown and the both of them giving a small subtle nod.

It was time.

Quietly, they pushed themselves up to get back on their feet. They shuffled over to the body near their feet without so much as another word, both them carefully grasping onto his wrists and ankles before lifting him up. Side stepping their way toward the ocean, they flinched as they entered the freezing ocean but be sure to make no noise as they kept the Italian's body above water.

With a silent count, they waited for a moment before quickly dunking him inside, flipping over his body so his front was facing downwards in the water. Germany held down the main body while Japan managed to press down on his shoulders to keep him down. However, it wasn't long before two arms came crashing around the water, both of them knowing he must have waken up at this point.

"Gomenasai, Italia." Japan murmured quietly, placing both of his hands onto the back of his head and shoving his head further into the water, bubbles popping furiously around his head. Germany looked away from what they were doing, biting down onto his lower lip. Hard.

A minute or so passed of this struggle before soon, it became quiet. Italy's arms fell with a 'plop' in the water, his body growing limp and the bubbles ceasing to rise. The deed was done. Germany gave an uneasy breath as he looked down to what they just did. But now was not the time to lament, they had work to do. Gently, they grabbed his limbs once more and carried him back to the roaring fire.

Japan didn't hesitate to take off his own jacket, knowing they needed a place to set everything. He rested on his knees next to the waterlogged corpse, watching from the corner of his eye as Germany sat down on the opposite side of the corpse. He reached out his hand, the other responding automatically to hand him his sword. With a quiet 'shing', he unsheathed his sword, glancing over the clean blade before looking down to the cadaver in front of him.

"…One, two, three," Japan muttered before he dug the tip of his sword into the base of Italy's neck, slowly and carefully gliding the blade down his torso in a vertical line to his belly button. He shifted his sword with ease and with a few flicks of his wrist he cut two flaps horizontally, pulling them back to reveal the red mess underneath.

Japan's nose wrinkled at just the pure smell of his insides, lightly covering his mouth for a moment before taking a deep breath from the side, he knew he had to do this; there was no going back now. With setting his sword aside, he carefully slide his hand inside of his friend, giving a shaky breath at feeling the slick, warm textures of the blobs of organs in there. After a small moment or two of trying to find one to properly take out first, his hand wrapped around a familiar good sized piece of organ and guided it out, taking his sword and severing its attachment to set on his coat on the side before going back in.

Germany flinched as red began to overflow from the incision and drip down the other's smooth stomach into the shirt he was laying on, eyes soon trailing to look at the liver going out of Japan's hand. He shook his head lightly, trying to remain alert for the delicate operation as he pulled out some sharpened twigs he had prepared earlier in the day. He looked down to the kidney placed on Japan's once pristine white jacket and gently took it and soon jabbed the sharp edge through it, cringing light before he set the stick over the fire to try to properly cook before doing the same with the other kidney he just placed and the liver as well.

The air was silent and stagnant between them once more, just as before the oceans crashing waves and the fire crackling as it cooked the meat near its blaze were the only sounds present. The German's brows furrowed, torn between watching their meal cook or watching Japan search their friend's body. Instead he just decided to close his eyes, just hoping that time could pass and they could be done with it all ready.

After about five minutes of resting and messing a little with sticks to make sure it was cooked thoroughly, he took the finished cooked meats from the fire. Japan looked up at this, nodding once and leaning over to take a cooked kidney, Germany deciding to take the other one first.

"Itadakimasu," Japan murmured between them before they both reluctantly took a bite. Germany cringed as the piece of cooked organ slithered down his throat, the sudden crash of guilt making his body tempted to toss it back up, but he kept it down before just taking another bite. His stomach's hollow ache slowly began to lessen the more he ate, Japan seeming to relax just a little as his seemed to slowly come to terms with the new source of meat as well.

Well, it wasn't that bad. They were getting food, albeit tasting very weird, and Italy was able to somewhat pass peacefully; they could just stay the tide washed him out while he slept and drowned him. He would believe that, right? Yes, it wasn't that bad.

"…G…Germany..? Ja… Japan?"

Without wasting a second, the two spun their heads over to look at the source of the voice, mouths hanging ajar in pure shock. Somehow, Italy's eyes had become open, and were staring right up at them in a wide bewildered gaze. Germany's arms dropped, the now empty stick hitting the sand before he gave a panicked look to Japan, who seemed to be giving one right back.

"Wh… what's... g-going…" Italy started to sputter, his eyes widening more if possible as searing pain began to take his mind and he began to tremble fiercely. He looked between of the two, not even sure what to exactly ask anymore.

"I-Italy, we-"

"Wh-what… are you guys doing?!"

"Please, we can expl—"

"It _hurts_! Why does it hurt?!"

"It's because-"

"W-why is my chest all red?!"

"Italy, it's only—"

"_What did you do to me!?_"

At that point, all of them began speaking at once, Germany and Japan attempting to explain their situation and Italy starting to scream in sheer fear of what was exactly happening. No one knew exactly what the other was saying any longer.

"Enough!"

Germany reached down and tugged on Italy's curl, making him yelp and whimper from the now very painful sensation coursing through his body. They remained in silence for a while, just reduced to looking each other with wide eyes and furrowed brows. The two nations moved over to be closer to Italy's top, wanting to get a better position to talk to him.

"Italy, I…" He started, looking down to the confused and scared Italian, "we had run out of food, you're aware of this. We haven't caught any fish in weeks and all out fruit hunts have come up, well, fruitless.

The Allies will be coming again soon, and we were afraid that we weren't going to win this time. We don't have any strength or resources left to defend ourselves. So… there came you, Italy. We thought that, well since you don't fight, then you would be able to…" he trailed off there, the next few words being obvious and painful enough not to say out loud. "Besides, nations don't die, we knew after a few days or so you'd be back to normal."

Italy stared up at him, glancing over to Japan as if for confirmation on this story, and saw the other nod in agreement, which made him nod understandingly in return. "B-but," he said, though he paused to hack and cough, a small few drops of blood specking his chin, "Why… say nothing? Wh-why did you lie to me?"

"We did not lie to you, Italy," Japan spoke up, remaining cool and calm as ever, "we did not say anything to you because we did not want to burden you to willingly give us your body. We tried to kill you while you slept so when you woke you would have no memory of any of this, but it seemed we did not think about how soon you would recover from drowning. We are sorry Italy; we did not mean to burden you."

Japan bowed his head in shame, Italy's brows furrowing lightly at this, though his ears perked lightly at feeling something take his hand, and when he looked over he saw the German grabbing his hand with both of his, looking down in shame and guilt shining in his eyes.

"Well… if it would mean saving your lives, you can have my body."

The two of them both looked up, almost in shock of this.

"Are... are you sure? We could stop."

Italy shook his head, a small smile forming on his lips, "I'm sure. You're right, I... I am weak; I am useless while you two do all the work. Please, please take my body… if this will let me finally help you and be useful for the first time... take it, take every last morsel." He sniffed, his lower lip trembling as he knew what he was getting himself into. "Please… please…. Do it."

Japan looked up to Germany, Germany looking back at him at this, and the raven haired man nodded, leaving his side to go back to his torso and deciding to resume his work. If it was what he wanted, he would deny his friend his dying wish. As he scooped his hand inside, Italy's mouth opened in wanting to scream out in pain, but he cut himself off, only giving out a straggled whimper and a half choked sob. His chin quivered as he felt warm tears run down his cold pale cheeks, trying to hold in all the misery and pain as he could.

"Italy."

Italy looked up to the German, teary eyes meeting with teary eyes as the other's attention made their hands constrict together even further. Germany opened his mouth, to say something, anything to make up for what exactly they were doing. In the end however, he just averted his gaze, feeling as though he didn't deserve his attention.

"I'm sorry. I know this means nothing right now, but I am. You don't deserve this." He clenched his teeth, furrowing his brows as guilt began to manifest into his core and began to fester. "I am sorry." He repeated himself a few times over quietly, as if saying it just while he thought of what to say next before he looked back to Italy. "You'll wake up soon, and I'll be here. It'll just be one long nap is all, well deserved rest from all the times I made you run and exercise. When you wake up, Japan and I will be right here beside you and we'll do whatever you want. We can play in the ocean; we can build sand castles, whatever you want." He cracked a smile, trying hard not to make the corners of it quiver, "Sleep soundly, knowing you did a good job. I couldn't be prouder of you than I am right now."

Italy blinked once or twice at this, a few more gathered tears slipping away. Germany… was proud of him. Never had he heard those words come out of his mouth, but it was all he ever wanted. Granted the stakes could have been better but, perhaps this was for the best after all.

Germany studied the others look, hoping that the other accepted his apology, or even had enough strength to speak at this point. He looked down to their joined hands and moved them, gently clasping Italy's pinky with his own. "I will be here for you when you wake, this, I swear."

The chestnut haired lad's eyes widened just a little at this, but he smiled, gripping onto Germany's pinky with what little strength he had. "Captain…"

Time began to pass swiftly at by that point; Italy's whimpering getting quieter and quieter, and all dialogue between the three having stopped completely.

Soon, Japan pulled away from the corpse, wiping his brow, accidentally smearing blood on himself in the process, as he knew his job was done. He glanced over to his now red jacket, and all the pale colors of organs not yet on the fire laying on them, no longer moving, no longer functioning. With a quiet sigh, he looked to the other half of Italy, seeing Germany still sitting there, both hands clasped with the Italian's hand.

Slowly, he crawled over to be parallel of where the blonde was sitting, noticing that Italy was staring upwards, smiling contently. But his eyes… it seemed he had passed on. He looked up at Germany, seeing him stare down as well, eyes gleaming. He reached forward and set a hand on Germany's shoulder, the other seeming not to react to it.

"We have a saying back in our land; the weak become the meat. It is for the best, Germany-san."

Germany nodded lightly, knowing he had to come to terms with this. It had been done, they had food now. They had to eat every last morsel. He gave a shaky sigh, his shoulders slumping just a bit in defeat despite their goal being reached.

Japan lightly frowned at this and pulled his hand away, instead choosing to grab Italy's free dead hand and hold it with both of his bloody hands. He dryly gulped, it feeling odd to be there, holding the hand of a dear friend who sacrificed his life so they may thrive for just a bit longer.

"We will be here when he wakes up, you said so yourself. We will be here. You will be here." Japan said, choosing to look over to the fire where Germany had put some organs to roast while he was harvesting.

Germany looked up a little at this, knowing that Japan knew that the promise he made was made mostly to him being there. He looked over to the fire as well for a moment, before back to the smiling Italian. "Yes… yes, I will be here." He murmured quietly, staring at him for a moment before looking up to the array of stars in the sky, the lights that were Italy's last view in life.

_I will be here for you when you wake… this, I swear…_

_..._

"And that's about it," Germany concluded, tapping the empty plate in front of him with his fork, "after we finished eating , we went to sleep, and in the morning it seemed the tide washed out Italy's body to the sea. The Allies found us soon after and brought Japan and I home, mostly because of France wanting to find Italy's body. At least we're on the same page."

Prussia stared at his little brother with mouth slightly agape, still trying to process what was exactly done. All of this had happened in just a matter of days, it still just blew his mind. He glanced down at their empty plates, having been the one who ate both slices of cake, and furrowed his brows lightly. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came to mind. What would one even say to their brother if he murdered someone they both were close to?

"Cheep cheep."

"Mm?" Prussia looked over to Gilbird on his knee, seeing him resting on his knee as though he was able to fall asleep any moment. At this, he looked over to the alarm clock on the nightstand, seeing what time it was. "Ah, it's getting late. I should.. uh… let you rest up. You've had a long... uh… trip."

Germany nodded, giving the plate over to Prussia, "mm, yes." He muttered, really not being able to think of anything else to say. He moved over on his bed and laid back down without so much as another word. Prussia frowned at this, but he still didn't know what to exactly say or do at this point.

"Guten nacht, West." He noted before heading out of the room, stopping by the kitchen to put the dishes and other items of the party away before heading downstairs to his own room. This was going to be quite awkward for a while, he could tell all ready. But mostly, he knew he had to keep an eye on his baby brother to make sure he was going to be okay.

But it was Germany! He would always be okay no matter what happened! With the pleasant thought in mind, he slipped Gilbird back into his comfortable little coop and dressed himself into his pajamas. He turned off the light and slipped into bed, sleepiness soon tugging at him and knocking him out like a light.

However, he didn't stay that way for long.

Prussia grunted lightly as he opened his eyes into darkness, glancing to his clock to see it was around two in the morning. But that wasn't the thing that was starting to worry him, but a large pressure behind him on the bed and something around his arm. Slowly, he turned around to take a look of what was making the bed space smaller, and he blinked in surprise.

Right beside him was Germany, his arms curled lightly around Prussia's arm like earlier he was holding it tight for comfort along with his legs curled up slightly. He frowned, knowing that he hadn't snuck into his bed with him since he was smaller and had nightmares about wars and vague memories he didn't understand.

The albino reached up and moved some of the bangs from his little brother's eyes, maneuvering over so he'd fully be facing him. He put an arm carefully around his waist, almost giving him a half hug and at least a nice position to be in for the two of them to sleep in the same bed.

_I will be here for you when you wake… this, I swear…_


	8. Chapter 8

_Riiing riiing… riiing riiing_

"Moshi moshi?"

"_Japan, it's me."_

"Oh, hello Germany-san. I have not heard from you in a while."

"_Yes, I'm sorry about that. How have you been doing? Are your arms still…"_

Japan glanced to the direction of the phone against his ear, frowning very lightly as the other trailed off on his question. He couldn't exactly blame him; it was probably still hard to accept what had happened what seemed like weeks ago. He set the phone between his cheek and shoulder as he pulled up his shirt sleeve. The mark had gotten a slightly more brown color since his first day of earning it, but it still held a bold red hue, probably since it was a nation's blood and did not dry out or discolor as fast as human blood.

"I am fine, and my arms have not changed. I suppose he is still in the ocean. And you?"

"_I see… my hands are still the same as before as well."_

"Mm."

The phone went quiet, Japan keeping an ear open for the other end. It didn't click so Germany was still there, but was probably just thinking what to say. In the silence, Japan decided to shift in his position and lay down on the couch he was sitting on, pulling the soft blanket resting on his lap to cover up to his shoulders as he pulled a pillow under the side of the head that didn't have the phone pressed against it.

A nap would be very nice, or just to lay there for hours on end sounded very nice too. Maybe he should open the windows too, the breeze outside sounded refreshing to experience. At the same time, he didn't want to get up from the fuzzy soft blanket laying on him.

"…_Are you still there?"_

"Mhm."

"…_.."_

Japan shifted on the couch again, rolling a bit in his spot so the blanket could wrap around him almost as a small cocoon while he waited for the German to gather his thoughts still. He smiled lightly, very content in his place.

After a while of lying there, he glanced up at the phone once more. Maybe he should say something. But what could he say? Well, there was that meeting coming up to talk about Italy's rescue, perhaps he could ask about that.

"So, are you prepared for the meeting coming up?"

"_Tch, don't remind me. I mean, it's nice we have people willing to help us search for him despite what's going on but… I'm not looking forward to be facing them again after everything we have done to them, and what we have done to one of our allies."_

"Mm, yes, I can understand that."

Japan rolled a little once more so he could fully be lying on his back, staring up at the blank ceiling.

"We have a contract with them that no politics will be involved in this, just us as people trying to retrieve one of our own back. There will be security from our and their governments, I doubt things will get too far. It will be all right, Germany-san."

"_Haa… you always know what to say. I should really try to be more like you about this, calm and strong. I am very glad I have you as an ally."_

"As do I. We're all we have of each other, and soon we'll get the missing one back. You have a promise to keep, after all."

"_Yes, we will. I will keep my promise. Thanks, Japan. I needed this talk."_

"Of course, feel free to talk to me whenever you need to."

" _I'll keep that in mind, thanks. I should get my paperwork for the meeting together then. We'll talk later to coordinate our leaving times. Tschuss."_

"Ja ne."

_Click._

After plopping the phone back into its place on the receiver, Japan sighed lightly as he simply slipped his head underneath his blanket, giggling very quietly as he moved around in his constricted space. Though because he wasn't able to see outside his small space, he didn't see that his moving had inched him further and further to the edge before just falling right off and onto the floor.

"Mmph." He grunted as his face hit the solid ground, his squirming antics now forgotten about and just deciding on lying there. He felt very heavy, like he wouldn't be able to get up from that position even if he tried.

What would he accomplish if he just fell asleep there? He'd just continue to be a gross, blood stained fool being stuck in that stupid blanket. Might as well keep the windows and doors shut and locked, wouldn't want the stink of human blood and guilt pollute the innocent world. With a deep sigh, he just stayed in that heavy, constricting blanket laying on him.

_Riiing riiing… riiing riiing_

"Mm?" Japan raised his head slightly as his phone rang, drly smacking his lips together as he struggled lightly before getting his arms and head out from the blanket to reach out for the phone from down on the ground.

_Riiing riiing… riiing riiing_

"Moshi moshi?"

"_Japan, it's me."_

"…Oh? Hello Prussia-san. I have not heard from you in a while."

"_Yea, sorry 'bout that. Listen, I need you to do me a favor."_

"Mm?"

"Keep an eye on Germany, would you? He hasn't really been himself and has been more on edge since he's come back, and I don't know what he would do if something else bad happens. I know I'm going to the meeting too, but he listens to you more than he does to me. I don't know maybe he has a 'friends over family' preference. But please, if something comes up, could you do something?"

"….."

"…_Are you still there?"_

"Mhm."

"_Is this a bad time?"_

Japan paused at this, a finger tapping the phone as he slowly felt something throb in his chest, something constricting his heart and making blood beat quicker throughout his body. What was that...was it anxiety? Fear? Worry? Over what? What is there to fear? He didn't know…

"…Hai."

"_Er… does that mean yes or no? Because if it is a bad time, I can call you back."_

"…No, I am all right. I will make sure to watch him."

"_Ah! Great! I knew I could count on you! I'll see you at the meeting, then! Tschuss!"_

Japan's breath picked up a pace just a little, the simple request he had just accepting suddenly beginning to weigh heavily on his shoulders. The last time he and his friends were left in his responsibility, he killed one and made the other crumple with grief. How was he going to help anyone?

He looked up at the table that the phone receiver was on, his hollow eyes staring at the black small silk bag next to it.

He was going to need some help if he was to help anyone.

"Ja ne."

_Click._


End file.
